New Beginnings in Violent Endings
by Toph4ever
Summary: The start of what i hope to be an appocalypse themed romance, staring a Taiga/Ryuuji pairing, possibly with some sub pairings, R/R, tell me what you want to see in it, i hope to make it long-ish. I do not own Toradora! or any of it's characters, i am simply writing this for the enjoyment, not to infringe upon copyrights.
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter One – Reflective Meetings _

Taiga had never considered herself to be beautiful, in fact she had often viewed herself as quite the opposite, slim to the point of miniscule, chest flat as a barrel, and auburn hair that fell in an unkempt and wavy fashion to the middle of her back. She was short, even for a girl of her age, hitting just over five feet in sneakers, which usually add at least a good half inch on account of the thicker soles most seem to sport, or so she told herself.

But as she stood there in the light of the tiny glass Christmas tree she had positioned on her coffee table, lit from within by a faux candle, throwing off a very realistic flickering luminescence, even she had to admit she looked good. Standing in the mirror before her in the spacious living room of her vast city apartment was a girl she could hardly recognize. But no, not a girl, in this light and the tiny black dress she was sporting, she could very nearly say that she more resembled a woman.

The dress in question was the very same one she had worn nearly a year ago on that very same Christmas Eve she had realized the love she felt for her next door neighbour, turned friend, turned constant companion, and finally, after a forced intervention by her high school friends and classmates; Minori, Ami, and the boy to whom she could grant the credit of meeting the reason for that particular confrontation, Kitamura, who also happened to have been her first high school crush.

Her hair was done up, a feat in an of its self that was rarely attempted due to the confrontational nature it seemed to share with its owner, in a plaited braid that woven around the side of her head in such a fashion as to resemble a waterfall, and terminating behind her in a single ornate braid. The effect was altogether stunning, she had washed and conditioned her normally curvy locks until they literally caught the light and shone with it, and fell straight and limp. Two requirements that inevitably had to be met to initiate the complex hairdo, which would have been like trying to recreate the Mona Lisa with crayons otherwise.

She had not attempted the hair herself of course, she had her best friend Kushieda Minori for that. Taiga had never had a knack for that sort of girly thing, always straight and to the point, in her choice of clothes, hairstyles, even shoes, yes concise and simple was the way to go. Kushieda of course, being the sporty borderline tomboy she was, had never been a genius in the feminine arts either, but she was at least better than Taiga herself, and could work all the way around the small girl's head, instead of having to crane her neck in the mirror, trying to see what went where.

Minori had helped her to prepare for this very special night by getting her into the dress, doing her hair and the little makeup Taiga permitted (A dash of mascara here and a touch of blush there), and helping her pick out some dark lace flats which she insisted completed the outfit, finally exiting with a firm smack on the Palmtop Tiger's back for encouragement. As soon as she was out the door taiga had immediately removed the flats, far more comfortable in the bare feet she was usually accustomed to wearing around her place.

The reason behind all the dressing up on this particular evening was only partly to do with the season, it being Valentines and all. The real reason for her sudden need to look good was that on this day, exactly 2 years ago, Ryuuji had proposed marriage to her after she had pushed him off of a bridge and into a river in a fit of embarrassment.

And now tonight he was coming over, and they were to spend the anniversary of their engagement together for the first time. It would have been the second, had she not run away to live with her mother, and attempt to straighten out her messy family situation for a year shortly after that proposal. Unfortunate as it was, she had missed that first year of her relationship with Ryuuji, and missed it sorely the entire time she had been away. But now she was back, problems solved, and no longer running, she could face him standing tall and proud. Well… as tall and proud as four foot eight would get her.

All that being said, she was still nervous. She had been back for over half a year now, having returned on the day of her fiancé's graduation, she was technically a graduate as well, having had her ceremony a week prior at the school she had transferred into upon moving back in with her mother, she had pulled her grades up and was now sitting in the top percentile. With that status also came the good probability of getting into any college or university she so chose, but she thought it unlikely that she would go, at least for the time being, she had never held much of an interest in higher education. Ryuuji on the other hand was highly intelligent, it was at times hard to perceive through the dangerous, angled profile he had inherited from his father, but it was present nonetheless.

He had never had to try in school, always coasting through class by simply listening, rarely putting as much as a crack or a dent in his books. Much less actually having to hit them with any seriousness. Taiga had worked her ass off in the last year in order to catch up to him, to impress him, and to show him that she too was capable, and that should he so choose to advance his education, she could go along with him. She had vowed to herself on the night of that emotional return that she would never again leave his side, fleeing on a whim.

Her musings were interrupted by the sudden, sharp peal of her telephone, next to her on the vanity containing the mirror into which she had been staring and musing for who knew how long.

'Probably hours at least', she thought to herself as she picked up the phone and saw by the on screen clock that it was now 9:45. Minori had left at around 7:30. She answered with an informal "Hello"

"You almost ready up there?" questioned the masculine voice on the other end of the line, "I've been down here a good 45 minutes, I thought I'd call up and see whether you were simply taking forever, or flat out dead."

The jab was good natured, and the voice filled with sarcastic humour, but that did not stop the blood rushing to the young girl's face.

"If you were so concerned why didn't you come up and see for yourself, stupid dog" she countered weakly, "I'm sure that the second option would have given you a tonne of satisfaction."

"Well them maybe I'll come up now and we'll see if you're right" he replied.

"Fine!" Taiga shouted indignantly into the receiver.

"Fine." Came the reply, the voice of the speaker carrying tones of laughter that could only spring from a well established rapport.

Taiga waited roughly two minutes before hearing the mild rap on the door and a slightly louder "Coming in."

The knob turned and Ryuuji Takasu sidled through, closing the door behind him. He turned around slowly and drew in a sharp breath, as though someone had punched him squarely in the chest. "My god Taiga.." he trailed off, "You look… you look…" he began to gesticulate, obviously at a loss for words .

"Well? I look what?" Taiga smiled.

"A-Amazing," he stuttered, "Absolutely… amazing…"

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**Author's Note:**

**This is the start of what will hopefully be a fairly long story that I just had the inspiration to write tonight. It is currently 11:30, so forgive any errors in spelling or grammar that may be present; I simply have to get this up. Please read and review, and tell me what you think. I want to do an apocalypse theme in this, as suggested by the title, as I believe it is the ultimate form of drama, and really draws people together, and brings out both the best, and worst. TELL ME WHAT KIND OF APPOCALYPSE YOU WANT! I personally am leaning towards a good zombie one.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2 – Don't ever leave, my Valentine._

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As he stood there dumbfounded, Ryuuji couldn't help but feel nostalgic, and a little sad. The reason for his melancholy revolved not around the beautiful young woman standing in front of him, but in the girl she had been and conversely, the boy he had once been. The couple's high school years had long since passed, '_Well…' _he thought to himself, '_It hasn't been THAT long, but that doesn't change the fact that it feels like an eternity'_. As he mulled that thought over in his head he realized that there was no possible way for him to have been more concise. It had only been a little over eight months since his high school career had ended with both Taiga's return to his life, and their former place of learning.

She had transferred schools in the year she had left, so it wasn't as though she had simply run away and let all her years of schooling fly out the window by choosing not to finish the final one. He recalled her recanting tales of all the troubles she had encountered, and endured, the shenanigans she had gotten up to and friends she had made. And then of course there were her grades, which had been average (actually quite good in fact, in the eyes of anyone of average intelligence, Ryuuji was often known for his seemingly effortless genius), in their second year. He had been surprised, pleasantly, to learn that in the time they had spent away from each other she had improved them considerably. It was not until several months after her return that she sheepishly revealed, upon questioning, that she had done it solely in hopes of impressing him.

Impress him it had, in fact when she had revealed the grades to him shortly after her return, he had run around his house with the paper containing them, her report card, as she sat embarrassed the living room. He took no notice of this of course, as he was too busy being ecstatic about the fact that they could, if they so chose, get into any university they pleased together. She was still not quite on par with him, as he had pulled up his socks in his final year as well, but good enough by far to get into most any career she wished.

But as happy as Ryuuji was with her efforts, no accomplishment could overshadow the fact that she had spent a year away from him, and left him in the lurch in a place where he would normally see her on a daily basis. School had been a very lonely and forlorn place without her, not just for himself, but all parties invested in the legend that was Taiga, the Palm Top Tiger. In the final days of his last year at the school, the end ceremonies approaching, stories could be heard told and retold in the halls of the tiny girl with enough ferocity to, metaphorically of course, take down a Grizzly bear and a Silverback Gorilla, all at the same time. The time that class 2-C had won it all at the cultural festival, and the gaping wound that all the seniors, most of all that legendary tawny haired girl who only some had met in person, but all had encountered in tales told in passing, or at length over a good boxed lunch, would leave. All of these memories, ringing in his ears a thousand fold on the voices of all attending the place of his education only made the separation more tangible to him. It was almost hard to believe that one small girl could make so many large impacts, but Taiga had.

And all of this, as heart-warming as it was to hear, had only made him more miserable, and caused the hours to drag as days, days as weeks, weeks as months and months… well you get the idea. Time had appeared to flow like molasses that entire year, and it seemed far longer than it had been. He had busied himself with the earning of money; he started out part time at the bakery at which the two of them had volunteered at not that entirely long before. His plan was to work the rest of that school year, and then the year after high school full time so that his poor, devoted mother would have an easier time of things. Yasuko had been taking even more shifts and pulling even more long hours than usual lately to 'Put away a little extra so her little Ryuu-chan could go to school'. He had noticed immediately and felt guilty in a similar timeframe, so he had vowed to himself to do his best to make sure that she would not work herself to death.

This had turned out to be a good thing for him, because of the pressure of the part time job, and the extra hours he was putting in a day on top of his normal routine of cleaning, cooking, and schoolwork he had actually been forced to try. And both his pay and his grades reflected it. The more he thought of the woman he had proposed to, the more he missed her, the more he poured himself into his work and studies, flying about his kitchens, home and bakery, like a daemon, and cleaning or studying every other waking moment. He had felt like Kushieda, no time for anything other than what was already crammed into his busy life, each day he went to bed exhausted thoroughly, and woke each morning sore, but happy. He was contented in his newfound, whirlwind lifestyle, and though it was true that he could never quite bring himself to put Taiga from his mind, the constant motion, and perpetual effort had helped to keep him sane, and make her absence bearable.

He had stuck to his plan and would have confronted his boss at the bakery about a full time position after he got out of school, had his boss not beaten him to the punch. He had offered, no implored, for Ryuuji to take the position. Ryuuji, being Ryuuji, had gratefully accepted, and redoubled his efforts yet again.

It took less than five seconds for the last year and a half of his life to come flashing before his eyes as he had stood there, dressed up in a suit and tie he bought especially for this occasion with some of the money from a recent promotion to Baker's Assistant, and a nice bonus that had come with it on account of all the heart and soul he had put into his job since day one of his training. He had chosen to slick back his dark hair to complete the look, business like, classy, and through it all still strangely menacing, like a delinquent. All on account of the sharp, dangerous features that he had inherited from his godforsaken father that made men cringe back and women day dream of tall, dark strangers. They had become even more pronounced as of late, his endeavours at the bakery, long hours of lifting heavy sacks of flour, churning, whisking, and beating and rolling had made the muscles of his arms, legs, and body on the whole more pronounced.

Taiga had undoubtedly taken note of this from across the room, as she was standing there, barefoot, waterfalls of hair cascading down the sides of her head staring at him, jaw slackened ever so slightly, just enough to lend her mouth the appearance of being somewhat agape. He, meanwhile, was in a similar situation.

"My god Taiga…" he managed finally, "You look… you look…"

"Well? I look what?" She replied with somewhat of a pout, the smile evident in her voice.

"A-Amazing," he stuttered, "Absolutely… amazing…" He knew it was lame, but for the moment it was the best he was going to get out.

`Well you stupid dog, are you just going to stand there all night with your jaw on the floor, or are you going to shut the door and come show your master how much you appreciate her? It is Valentines' day after all." She half questioned, half stated, hands on her hips.

'_Back to the dog insults already are we?_' Ryuuji sighed to himself as he chose the second option, shutting the door behind him and stating matter-of-factly as he strode forward, "That's not all today is, I hope you of all people didn't forget, after all you ARE the one who said yes." He was, of course, referring to the anniversary of their engagement. It had happened two Valentines' Days ago, after a confrontation in their homeroom at school, and he had wound up getting himself pushed off a bridge by the impossibly embarrassed love of his life trying to say it, but say it he had, and she had agreed. Unfortunately for the both of them they were interrupted before they could admit their feelings toward one another properly, and he did not receive another chance until the day of his graduation ceremony more than a year later, on account of Taiga's sudden flight to her mother's to straighten things out in her family life.

Ryuuji snapped out of his revere to realize that Taiga was now staring intently at the ground.

"No" she replied softly, a blush creeping up on her porcelain cheeks, "I haven't forgotten."

'_She looks so absurdly cute when she's embarrassed_' Ryuuji mused. Just then, the feeling that he had almost forgotten something very important overwhelmed him, and he realized suddenly that he had left the anniversary gift he had bought her back on his dresser. "Wait right here, I'll be back in a sec!" he yelled, much to his fiancé's confusion, having to stifle the overwhelming urge to face palm he turned on his heel, flung the door wide, and bolted down the stairs leaving Taiga standing in her apartment, wondering what she could have said to bring on his sudden flight.

He ran as fast as he could next door to his apartment, flicked the lights on, and bolted to his room, sending poor Inko-chan, who had been sleeping peacefully in the corner, into a flurry of squawks and feathers. The bird continued to hop around his cage, repeating accidentally learned profanity long after his owner had found the parcel he was looking for, and shot back out the door, flicking off the lights and streaming apologies as he slammed it behind him.

It took him less than two minutes in total to make the trip there and back, rushing up the stairs on his return trip to find a still very confused Taiga sitting on the floor of her apartment, staring at her hands and mumbling to herself.

"What on earth did I say to make him run out like that…"

"Taiga," Ryuuji said, clearing his throat and blushing himself as taiga had done earlier, he averted his gaze and extended to her the hand that held the package he had rushed so frantically home to retrieve. "I… Aherm, I got this for you, you know, to celebrate tonight and everything…" He trailed off fiddling with his hair, which had now fallen down to his face as it would do on normal days from all the commotion. He ventured a glance in her direction, and was rewarded with a very rare sight. The Palmtop Tiger actually had tears streaming around the gigantic smile she now wore on her still red face.

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**A/N: **

** This chapter was a longer one, shorter still than I hope to do in the future, but longer than the last. It mainly focused on Ryuuji's life since Taiga left for that year. It's been another late night, so I apologise if my vocabulary is not quite as articulate as it should be. The writer of a story I really love once said that one of the best parts of the Toradora! Fandom was that no one begs for updates, but I'll admit, if any of you enjoy it and would like to, I promise that I won't mind ;).**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 ~ Moving in and Moving forward

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**A/N: This is a long overdue update for New Beginnings in Violent Endings, i've spent the 2 days on the chapter, so it's a little longer this time. If you notice and errors or have any suggestions please feel free to comment, other than that enjoy, this is the beginning of the end.**

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Taiga sat alone in her apartment, twirling her Valentine's Day gift between her fingers. The chair in which she sat, well less sat than lounged, was a fancy neo 1950's number made of extraordinary quality leather polished to a high shine. Her father had, of course, bought it when he had furnished the apartment to which she had exiled herself at the beginning of her high school career, and the only reason she had kept it was because she found it deceptively comfortable. It lacked any kind of substantial armrests, a feature which allowed her current position; one arm slung over the chair's wide shoulders, a foot on the floor and another dangling in midair, attached to a leg crooked over the low side, bouncing slowly back and forth against it, body twisted obliquely to the chair's curvature, to remain pleasant. The gift in question was the one that Ryuuji had rushed so furiously back home to get the previous night that he completely rumpled his suit and ruined his carefully combed hair.

It was a pendant on a thong made of microscopic strips of braided leather, done up in a tube weave that resembled the bark of a tree. Even under close scrutiny the illusion held, and it allowed her to feel as though she was holding the most supple, gorgeous branch the world had ever devised right there in her hand, and know it was her wonderful Fiancé who had travelled the reaches of the globe to obtain it for her. This was not quite the case, but the sentiment still prevailed as her eyes followed the articulate patterning all the way down to where the pendant its self hung, held to the cord by yet more leather, the pieces even smaller, and wirework fashioned to look like the curling branches of a Bonsai or Ming tree. These tendrils wrapped through a square central hole in a coin made of jade, embossed on the front and back side with a stylized tiger and dragon respectively, a constant reminder, quite literally set in stone, that the commissioner of that gorgeous work would always be behind her, and always have her back. The jade upon which these images raised themselves up, and into the third dimension appeared extremely old, not in a bad way, cracked or worn, but instead ancient and mysterious, in much the same way as a timeless cave, wrapped in moss and vines and nestled deep within the mountains in a place human kind has not yet had a chance to ruin. When the light hit the stone it appeared to have been rent from the wall of just such a cavern, one could almost still smell the damp, musky air hanging about it, and see the moss embedded somewhere deep within.

Her gift to him had been a far simpler affair, a silver ring shaped like a dragon that held a cut sapphire in its open maw. She'd had it made with some of the money she had managed to save over the years and stowed away in a rainy day fund for just such occasions. It was a beautiful piece, that went without saying, but it lacked the ageless grace Ryuuji's gift seemed to possess. Nonetheless it seemed to suit him, instead of the ring setting off attributes present in the wearer; eyes, facial features, fingers, etc… she thought that he set off attributes in the ring. The way it seemed to sparkle when he had put it on, his long, strong fingers making it look trim and powerful, and the numerous other small occurrences she had noted had all served to reinforce her belief that this was indeed the perfect gift for him.

It was midafternoon as she was musing over the previous night; the sun had been steadily and dutifully making its westward decline, and as it peeked over the top of her large apartment window, momentarily blinding her in what could only be described as some sort of perverted game of peekaboo, she snapped out of her revere and, reaching up to shield her eyes, caught the time on her microwave clock. 3:45 PM. She nearly jumped out of her skin leaping from the chair in which she was poised, and bolted to her bedroom. She had a date with Ryuuji in less than an hour's time, and would have to rush to get ready AND make it to the restaurant on time. The two of them were going out for dinner to celebrate their two year engagement, as all they had done the previous night was hang out and do lovey-dovey things like stare into each other's eyes and declare their undying love for one another. Well, when they weren't taking jabs at one another and play fighting happily on her couch that is. The thought of that amazed her, to have someone she was so in love with that she could go from exchanging verbal abuse to exchanging deep, meaningful looks with in a matter of seconds would have seemed preposterous, and probably idiotic to the her of even two and a half years before that point. The two of them had not actually realized that they had fallen in love with one another until shortly before Ryuuji had proposed, though it had seemed painfully obvious too all of their friends in the year or so of school all of them had spent together beforehand. But that was another thought for another time, for now she had to focus, and concentrate on the monumental task she now found at hand as it unfolded before her.

In the end she made it to the establishment with only seconds to spare, to find a slightly peeved Ryuuji standing just off from the main entrance, tapping his foot in a nervous fashion. She smiled to herself as she beheld him, he always dressed so formally for any occasion, whether it was dinner, a party, or even just a minor occasion such as a rendezvous with an old friend, it was one of his little quirks she had truly come to love.

"Where on earth have you been?" He asked in a concerned voice as she jogged up to him in a scarf and black, knee length evening dress, "Any longer and we would have lost our table!"

"I got… distracted," she said, attempting to sound absentminded as she caught her breath. She'd had to run because, despite being of age and having the ability to do so, she had not yet taken her road test and gotten a Driver's Licence, much less a car. She also hadn't wanted to ride her bike for fear it would ruin her dress, or worse cause it to billow, flashing her underwear to whomever she may have been passing.

"Distracted by what?" Ryuuji questioned staring intently at her as she bent double, getting the last of her wind. (Despite being used to physical activity, and having an aptitude for feats of speed and strength despite her small size, two kilometers was a long way to run in a dress and flats.) "Did you seriously run all the way here?"

"Yes!" She snapped, bringing herself upright, a blush creeping into her cheeks, "And it's none of your damn business!"

"Of course it's my business," Ryuuji countered, "You nearly cost us our reservation."

"…The necklace…" Taiga replied, her face downturned shyly, "I was looking at that stupid necklace and I lost track of time. Now let's get inside before we really do loose our table!" And that being said she grabbed his hand and dragged him inside, stumbling and protesting as he went. Their dinner was rather uneventful compared to their usual affairs, cursing and insults were kept to a minimum, and they sat peacefully the majority of the time, exchanging small talk, and the occasional big ticket item, what they would name their children should they ever have them, who each would pursue if the two of them were not engaged, until Taiga decided it was time to pop a rather large question she had found increasingly pressing as of late.

"Ryuuji…" she said tentatively, approaching the subject with an air of caution, "We've been engaged for two years now…"

"Yes," He replied, "And?"

"Well," She went on, "You have a steady job at the bakery…"

"Yes,"

"And we're both of age…"

"Yes…"

"And we live right next door to each other already…"

"Taiga," he said, exasperation evident in his voice, "What is your point?"

"I think we should move in together!" She replied in a rushed, but level tone, "We are at a point in our relationship where most people who are engaged will normally take some form of next step, and I think it would be good for us, learning to live with each other, and it would be fun too, and it would prepare us for when we finally do get married, and we could support each other, and I could get a job, and… and…" She had begun to ramble as panic had set in, Ryuuji's fork had dropped from his hand at the same time she had made the proposition, and his eyes had become increasingly wider as she had continued trying to offer her rationale. "I mean I don't want you to think it's for the wrong reasons or anything!" she stated, slightly desperate as he began to rise from his seat, tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes "It's just that… It's…" she sniffled quietly as the condensation in her eyes threatened to overwhelm her. Ryuuji had come to her side by this point, and crouched, wrapping his arms around her. "It's just that I've been so lonely by myself all this time, and… and I never realized it, until I discovered what I had in you. Now I just feel empty whenever you leave, and I… I thought…"

"I understand." He whispered gently into her ear, breath tickling it slightly on its way by, "I feel the same way."

"So you think it's a good idea?" She asked, the tears that had been welling just now beginning to come under control.

"I do, I think we should discuss it a little more, and talk to my mother about it, but I completely get it, so just don't cry, ok?" He implored, pulling back from his embrace with a smile radiating what seemed to be joyous relief plastered across his face. It looked so funny that between it and her current state, she couldn't help but burst into peals of laughter, which earned her some slightly confused looks from fellow diners seated around the pair. They did talk about it some more, and upon their return from dinner proposed the idea to Yasuko who, after several gleeful squeals and only slightly drunken hysterics about her little Ryu-chan growing up and leaving the nest, agreed.

The moving would have taken the pair of them several days had they not been next door neighbours prior to it, but as conditions stood it took them a mere 8 hours. Taiga, wishing to keep in good standing with her mother, called her requesting an 'OK' on the topic before they began. Both of them had expected some struggle in this, and were pleasantly surprised when she replied on the second ring, and replied with nearly the same enthusiasm as Ryuuji's mother had. She gave the go-ahead almost instantly, and with next to no resistance, the only catch being that the two of them keep condoms on hand, should something happen; her rationale being that she didn't want her grandchildren being "pre-marital accidents". This caused taiga to blush furiously, and Ryuuji to stammer something about never having those intentions in the first place into the receiver. "When something like that happens it's never intended dear," was her only reply before she wished them all the best and promptly hung up.

"I don't know what you did to patch things up with her," Ryuuji said, turning to his new house mate, "But you did a damn good job. I remember that time she came to see you, and you ran off fuming before she could get a word in edgewise."

"It sure as hell wasn't easy," she triumphantly replied.

They went ahead after that, returning to Ryuuji's house to grab the first of the boxes, but before they could even sidle them out of the doorway, Yasuko came bursting out of her room and threw herself about Ryuuji crying, "Before you leave me all alone you have to promise me one thing!"

Ryuuji, slightly off put by her teary display of affection responded, "Yes…?"

"You have to come over every day and cook for Ya-Chan!"

"Fine," he replied, only slightly grudgingly, Taiga knew how he loved to cook.

"And you have to come visit every couple of days!"

"Alright"

"AND you have to come help Ya- Chan buy groceries every week!"

"OK"

"AND you have to come clean every…"

'MOM!" He cur her off, "If you keep on asking for me to do more I may as well just not move out, either that or you could just move in with us, I love you to death but it would be a lot easier on everyone!" At this taiga cringed slightly, not at Ryuuji's tone, or because the thought of his mother moving in with the two of them repulsed her, but because she had been looking forward to it finally being just the two of them, starting a new life together. Not that having Ya-Chan move in wouldn't be fun, in fact she was sure that she would quite enjoy it, over the past few years the three of them had grown extremely close, becoming a family unit within themselves. She liked Yasuko, but as terrible as it made her feel, the thought of starting a family of her own with just her and her fiancé at its head, no rules, no adults, just a couple of kids having a constant good time, seemed far more attractive to her at the moment.

"…Ryu-Kun, you know I couldn't do that…" Yasuko said looking him in the eye, "As much as I would love to, it's time right now for you and Taiga to start something special, and I'll manage on my own. This just means that when you have kids I get to come live with you and be the cool, freeloading Grandma!" And with that exclamation she began leaping around gleefully, shouting about how enjoyable it would be to sit around the house all day in a kimono, playing with the kids and causing trouble.

"Mom, you know I love you, and I'll come over to cook and clean as often as I can, and I'll even teach you how to do it so you can if I'm not around for whatever reason."

"I know sweetie," She replied hugging him tight to her chest, and then releasing him quickly, again looking excited and winking, "It just means I'll have to get myself a boyfriend so I don't get lonely!"

"Oh no..." Groaned Ryuuji good naturedly, "This means I'll have to cook and clean for both of you won't I?"

"Absolutely!" She exclaimed, and with that and one final embrace, shooed them out the door with their boxes, and hurried back to her room, humming to herself as she went. The reminder of the move took them until midevening, the reason being not that Ryuuji had a lot of stuff to move, but because every ten or twenty minutes they would become distracted by either a lover's spat, disagreement over who's things went where, or just a plain old play fight, which usually ended up with a kicking, biting, and generally irate taiga thrown over the shoulder of her laughing Fiancé. Not to mention that they took a two hour lunch break, and went to a family restaurant in which they found one of their old high school friends working the rush hour shift.

Minorin walked up to their table scribbling madly on her note pad with one hand, balancing a tray on her elbow, and without looking up asked in an incredibly cheery voice, "Hello, welcome to our establishment, what can I get you to star-"

"MINOIRN!" Taiga screamed, lunging for her old companion's waist, sending her try flying and a giant black streak down the middle of the orders she had taken down as she was jerked backwards by the force of Taiga's advance. As the realization of what had just happened asserted it's self in her mind, her eyes grew wide, and with a giant smile on her face she returned the bear hug with a resounding cry of, "TAIGA!" Ryuuji simply face-palmed at the sight of his current love and old flame embracing, and began apologizing to the growing list of people their display was inconveniencing.

"I haven't seen you in ages!" Minorin cried, bright cherry hair askew as she picked up her tiny friend, trying to get a better look at her, "I don't think you've grown an inch!"

"Not even a millimeter," Taiga replied sadly as she reached for Minorin's cheeks, pulling on them in a traditional affectionate gesture.

"I haven't seen you in ages, what have you been up to?"

"Settling back in, job hunting, what most people do after returning from a bit of post high school soul searching, what about you? I thought your plan was to work up as much money as you could during school so you could jump right into university and get your own place?"

"I guess that was the plan wasn't it?" Minorin replied coyly, setting taiga down and rubbing the back of her head as though embarrassed, "I guess that once you get out, you don't really realize how fast time goes by, one moment you've just graduated, and the next you're six months into a full time job, wondering where the time in-between went. I suppose I wanted a little more cash before I tried to tackle a degree, and just got caught up in giving it my all again…"

"That sounds like a very you thing to do," Taiga responded, "I don't think I could ever get that caught up in a job."

"Speaking of which, have you found one yet?"

"No," Taiga sadly answered, "No one seems to want to hire me, Ryuuji on the other hand has really moved up in his job, he's the assistant to the head baker!"

"Really? That's great!" Minorin exclaimed, turning to face Ryuuji, "I haven't seen you since graduation either, how have you been?"

"Same old, same old," He replied, "And as much as we would love to catch up all day, we should probably order something and let you get back to work before we get you fired."

"Oh, right!" Minorin exclaimed as she gathered up the things she had dropped, "What would you like?"

They two of them ordered, and after Minorin had finished taking them down she sidled up to Taiga and whispered behind her hand, shifting her eyes around dramatically, "I'll bring you the 'Taiga Special' as well, on the house of course."

"Just like old times!" Taiga beamed

"Minorin," Ryuuji interjected, "Why don't you come over to our place some time, we can all hang out, watch a movie, catch up, it'll be fun."

"Yea, that sounds aweso-"Minorin cut off suddenly, looking shocked, "What did you just say OUR PLACE?"

"Mhmm," Taiga replied happily, "We finally decided to move in together, we're actually in the middle of it right now, we decided to take a break and go out for lunch."

"Squee!" Was Minorin's immediate response, which was followed by a moment of happy dancing about, and her exclamation of, "Now I'm definitely coming over! Right after work! And I want ALL the juicy details!" Before either of them could get another word in, she whisked away to the kitchen to place their orders. The remainder of their lunch was spent in peace, with some chatter as Minorin popped up periodically to ask how everything was, the reply to which was "Fantastic!" every time. They finished before too long, and bid her farewell as they began the trek back to their newly shared home to finish moving Ryuuji in. Admittedly that didn't take too much longer, another few hours of hauling and unpacking and all that was left was one final dilemma.

"Now we just have to bring over my bed," Ryuuji huffed, sitting down on the aforementioned item, "The only problem is going to be getting it down my stairs and up your elevator.

"Well we could do that…" Taiga said coyly, "Or…"

"Or…?" Ryuuji asked.

"Orwecouldbothusemine…" She replied, so quickly and quietly it was incomprehensible, and Ryuuji had to ask for clarification.

"Beg Pardon?" he inquired, slightly perplexed

"I SAID WE COULD BOTH USE MINE YOU STUPID DOG!" She yelled, fists clenched behind her back and face beet red in obvious embarrassment. "It would save us having to move yours, and since we're engaged and moving in together already I thought it would be a good idea, but if you don't want to then fine!" She raised her face, which had been lowered to the floor as she shouted, up to meet his slowly, only to find an amused grin plastered across his face.

"Well," he mused to himself while staring her down, "She certainly moves fast doesn't she? One moment she's asking you to move in, and the next she's asking you to sleep with he-"

"SHUT UP IDIOT!" She shouted into his face, "If that's the way you're going to think about it, then you can sleep on the couch!"

And with that she bolted from his room, Ryuuji ran after her calling, "Wait! Taiga! I was just kidding!" What neither of them noticed in their hurry was a lone figure swaying almost drunkenly down the street. He was dragging one lag behind him as though broken, the left one, and meandering with his jaw slightly agape.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: This is the next chapter in what will hopefully be a long running story about Toradora! Zombie appocalypse style. I actually edited this one, so there shouldn't be too many mistakes, and all i have to say is that it was another incredibly late night, but hey, when inspiration hits, you have to sieze it, and then write for 2.5 solid hours in order to finish what you started. **

** IMPORRTANT:**** (Slight Spoiler)**** For The part with Ryuuji and the zombie, any of you who are aquainted with _Higurashi no Naku Koro ni_ will want to call upon all of those disturbed memories it graced you with, because that part goes down Higurashi style. Bloody, incredibly painful to watch, and more or less in complete, senselessly violent insanity. So think about it accordingly and enjoy! :)**

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Ryuuji and Taiga Stood in her bedroom, staring at her enormous four poster bed which was draped in waterfalls of satin in to form of curtains, and well loved, the ornate posts bearing numerous dings and scrapes from what Ryuuji could only assume to be the bokken that Taiga always seemed to tote around. The bedding looked like it hadn't been straightened since the last time he had made it up for her some weeks, perhaps more than a month, beforehand, which caused Ryuuji to twitch visibly.

"Taiga…" Ryuuji began, strain evident in his tone, "How long has it been since you made your bed, or washed your sheets?"

"What are you talking about?" Taiga asked, perplexed, "I haven't, the last time it was made was when you did it a month and a half ago. I messed it up as soon as you left though, it's more comfy this way."

"You mean to tell me… that you haven't ever washed these sheets… or made the bed?" asked Ryuuji with dangerous calm, "Because the last time I just MADE the bed… I didn't wash the sheets…"

"Yea, what's your point?" she inquired, "I already told you it'd more comfy this way."

"We are going to have some serious ground rules to work out." Ryuuji mumbled under his breath, shaking with the effort it took to restrain himself from sprinting forward to begin stripping the four poster immediately upon hearing Taiga's response. He had never seen such a travesty in his life, even his own helpless, lazy, and oftentimes intoxicated mother knew to strip the bedding once a month at most, and air it at the very least, if not wash it as he always hounded her to. Yes, they were definitely going to have to lay down some SERIOUS ground rules.

"What's your problem?" Taiga asked, turning to face him after having noticed his tremors, "Don't even think about it Ryuuji, if you go on one of your cleaning rampages at this hour I swear I'll -"

He didn't let her finish her sentence, the strain finally broke him as he bolted for the bed, snagging the blankets right down to protective mattress cover as he dive-rolled over it in a much practiced maneuver he used whenever Yasuko would bar him from cleaning her own sheets, and landed on the other side, wadding them into a large ball as he went. He was back up and out the door before Taiga could blink, let alone comprehend what had just occurred, and rocketing down the hall to the room where Taiga kept the washing machine she only rarely used, on account of the fact that she had a great many outfits, and only rarely had to do laundry. On those few occasions it did need doing, she simply described the mess to Ryuuji until he could no longer stand it, and rushed over to remedy the situation. But that was when Taiga asked him to clean, and wanted him to help her, for now all he could do was hope with every fibre of his being that her laundry room door locked.

Just as he entered the doorway he heard an outraged cry loud enough to wake the dead, and what sounded like a stampede of elephants coming down the hall. He slammed the door behind him, and discovered that it did indeed lock from the inside, he engaged it, praying as he did so, and pushed a chest of drawers in front of it, backing away just in time to avoid the tip of the wooden sword that came crashing through the barred entrance.

He couldn't believe it; she had gone so ballistic she had actually put a sword through a door in her own apartment. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised." He muttered, "She put that same sword through my wall after having just met me, and breaking into my house in the dead of night. Oh well, it just means I'll have to get this done quickly, who knows how long that door will –"

His thought was cut off by the bokken crashing through yet again, spurring a random, fleeting thought to the forefront of his mind, "She's got some pep, that's a solid wooden door. I wonder how much she can bench…" And pondering that he set about washing the sheets, he put the machine on its highest settings, and by the time Taiga finally broke through, he had them switched over and nearly dry. She leapt through the opening she had created, but by this point she was so tired she simply slumped to the floor upon hitting it, gasping for air, which Ryuuji could understand completely, she had put a hole in the door the size of a small umbrella, and jumped through to confront him. However she had continued her downward trajectory, instead of springing up in her usual cat-like manner, and remained there. He walked past her slowly with the bedding, not wishing to rouse her and revive her fury, and speed walked down the hall to redress the goliath sleep set in the bedroom. It took about 20 minutes, and Taiga stumbled in just as he finished tucking in the corners, flopping down on his perfectly spread linens.

"Hey, I just made tha-"A sharp look from Taiga caused the sentence to swell in his throat, catching there and sticking. In fact "Sharp" was putting it kindly; she was giving him the same glare a tomcat gives a small bird that he plans to slowly eviscerate, picking and plucking at his leisure.

"Thanks to you I am now too tired to stand." She growled, "And I hope you realize, that door is coming out of YOUR bank account."

"The hell it is!" Ryuuji cried in outrage, "You're the one who demolished it!"

"Had you listened to me, this would never have happened. I hope it was worth the clean sheets."

"Now wait just a min-" He was cut off yet again by the daggers taiga was issuing him from her eyes.

"I forgot to mention, you're also buying me a new Bokken. "

"EH?" Ryuuji exclaimed, shocked yet again by her gall, "What's wrong with the one you have?"

"Take a look idiot."

He did as he was told, and sure enough lying next to the door where it had been discarded was the aforementioned blade. The sight of it made him shudder, the entire shaft was splintered into nothingness, huge chunks were missing and cracks ran its entire length. "Oh…" was all the response he could muster.

"Damn straight 'Oh', now we, and by that I mean you, are going out tomorrow, and getting that door replaced and we, this time meaning your sorry ass is going to pick me up, are then hitting a martial arts store so I can pick up a new sword."

"_Just how hard WAS she swinging that thing?" _Ryuuji mused to himself.

"Oi? Are you even listening to me you disobedient dog?" Taiga quipped.

"Umm… Yea, Right… get door fixed, martial arts store, got it."

"Good boy." She replied, clearly as unenthused as she sounded, and patted the bed beside her, "Now hop your ass up here and love me, I'm tired and I want to go to sleep."

"_Too tired to even brush your teeth or change?" _He thought to himself, but the only words he allowed to escape his lips were, "Uh, sure," as he jumped in beside her. It only took her a few minutes to nod off, but it took Ryuuji far longer, what felt like hours, he was just about out when he heard a shrill scream, followed by a chorus of loud moaning from the hallway. Taiga of course, having the innate ability to sleep through a nuclear attack, continued sawing logs beside him without even a hitch in her breathing. He however had never been much of a heavy sleeper, and could be jostled awake by the slightest noise, so not having quite drifted off at the point the hall started issuing strange sounds, he roused immediately, and sat up slowly, the ruckus having put him on edge.

"HELP!" The crack under the front entranceway pleaded, "Please, somebody! It hur-" The desperate plea cut off abruptly, replaced instead by more incomprehensible moaning, and a noise similar to a dog attempting to choke down peanut butter that has become stuck to its palate. That sold it for his groggy, semi-conscious self; there was somebody in the hall obviously being attacked by a dog. Only, the building didn't allow pets.

"Some irresponsible owner must have snuck it in with them," He rationalized, "Damn people and their love of disorder." He moved, swaying sleepily, to the kitchen where he rummaged around for a moment and came up with a rolling pin with which to arm himself, and having done that moved on toward the entrance. The moaning became more pronounced the farther he ventured, but still contained no comprehensible verbalization. When he reached the door, and turned the knob to open it, the noises stopped as suddenly as they had begun, and as it swung inward, the sight it revealed very nearly rendered him speechless. Shocked beyond even disbelief he beheld the most gore he had ever encountered, even in modern movies.

Ryuuji had never been one for the popular Slasher flicks his generation seemed so captivated by as they rolled out of Hollywood and across the Pacific like a dense fog, years after their North American releases. They weren't actually "Slasher movies", as in classics such as the Freddie Krueger films; he simply referred to all movies nowadays by that title. They were all so gory, and pointlessly violent, he saw no merit in viewing them. Even children's movies were becoming increasingly more profane in recent years, incorporating mild to moderate swear words, and even themes rated as, "Mildly suggestive," which integrated nearly as much nudity and sex as any 18A movie he had seen. All he'd ever had or cared to work off of were half-heartedly received stories his friends had told in their high school classroom. But even those grisly recantings paled in comparison to the real thing, which was now being played out before his unsuspecting eyes.

Kneeling before him, back turned, was a figure that, to call it blood spattered, stained, or even drenched would have literally been a gross understatement. It was bathed head to toe in the stuff, whether its or that of the body it was hunched over Ryuuji could not tell, but that was not the worst of it, not by far. Shredded pieces of organs littered the floor, purple-green intestines oozing chime, scraps of stomach tissue stuck to the sides of the creature's face, digestive juices slowly burrowing a fetid hole in one cheek so that the bones were beginning to show through, scarlet flaps of liver flecking it's mutilated shirt, and the desecrated torso it only partially covered. Pieces of the _Thing's_ skin hung down limply from it, exposing surprisingly fresh looking muscle tissue and yet more bone and cartilage, there was a gaping wound in one arm that would have resembled a human bite-mark, had it not been so large. A person would have to be able unhinge their entire jaw to achieve such a feat. No attempt had been made to bandage any of the plethora of injuries, which struck him as odd, until he at last began to realize what _**It**_ was doing. 'It' was really the best descriptor he could come up with, with the hunks of hair that appeared to have been ripped from its skull, and the general state of the creature's body, one would be hard pressed to discern gender, let alone race or any sort of defining characteristics that could lead to identification.

As it stooped there, over what could only be the corpse of whoever had been screaming earlier, he noticed that it was digging around inside of the rent open chest cavity. It would stop burrowing every now and again, and raise its hands to its mouth, then that dog-smacking-peanut-butter noise would commence for a little while, and it would go back to digging. It was eating the cadaver. This realization did not exactly break him, but it issued in him, and his silence which had been kept pristine up until that point, broken not even by the silent swing of Taiga's well-oiled apartment door, a large crack. He brought a hand to his mouth, gasping sharply in order to suppress an outright shriek as he grasped that the marred organs littering the hall belonged to the body on the floor, and the… The Zombie, yes that was a good word for it, the Zombie had partially consumed them.

At his sudden inhalation it began turning slowly about to face him, rising as it did so, hands limp at its sides. It was all he could do not to collapse on the spot, even the smell wafting off of it was awful, not acrid but instead sickly sweet, like overly ripe fruit, or leaves disturbed in the midst of the busy end of their lives, hurrying to rot away before winter's icy maw could claim them and forcibly prolong their partial existence. He assumed that the fluid it seemed to be oozing out of its many lacerations was the most likely cause, as it was definitely not the smell of rotting flesh; on the contrary nearly all of the wounds, even though any blood had long since coagulated all around them looked fresh, as though they had been made only moments ago. The effect in and of its self was entirely unsettling, and as he clutched his rolling pin, white knuckled, his eyes travelled up the swaying figure, past clawed throat and slackened jaw to eyes that could not be described as anything so close to, or as merciful as dead.

Zombies in movies had "dead" eyes, rolled back to the whites, unseeing, glassed over, the works, all the clichés, but none of their eyes could compare to the gaze which he now found himself struggling to hold. The whites of its eyes were yellowed, though not solidly; the veins, capillaries really, stood out starkly, but only in an even sicklier shade, bordering on the appearance of being severely clogged or infected. Jaundice caused a similar appearance, he recalled that from Biology class, and holding to facts for support he sought to further rationalize his situation. But he unfortunately came up blank when he realized that the centers of the eyes were completely, lifelessly, and unimaginably dark. The cornea of the eyes of every person on the planet contain a shadow of live, it is visible, tangible even, which is why the eyes are often referred to as the windows to one's soul. There will always be warmth, a gleam, twinkle, sparkle, or even a palpable depth to the eyes of any living person if you look hard enough. It is probably for this reason that dead eyes are referred to as glassy, no longer containing that intelligent fire in their depths, dead eyes are simply empty panes containing broken fragments, refracting memories of a stolen soul. These eyes were not dead. They were drained of all color, iris, cornea; a stale, stagnant, utterly flat black. They had no trace of light in their depths, no intelligence, and certainly no warmth. It was as though this poor soul's windows had been sprayed over with auto paint, or perhaps bed liner, or maybe even canned black hole. Regardless of the substance, all light appeared to fall flat into them, and never return to the outside world, swallowed up by the pits his mind had made them out to be.

His trance broke when the creature began to move, swaying slowly at first, steps shuffling, uncertain, but deft enough to bring it uncomfortably close in a relatively small timeframe. There was only about six feet between them, and a lack of action on his part would give his ghastly counterpart the opportunity it required to close it with the ever increasing speed and certainty it was showing. He weighted his options as quickly as his groggy, confused state of mind would allow. Option One: He could scream, it wouldn't do him much good, but it was a start, and may get the attention of others who could come to his aid. But they would arrive too slowly to prevent anything from happening, just as he had for the previous screamer. Only five feet now, option two: He could run, he had nowhere to go, save back into the apartment, but it would buy him more space and time to think. That would have been good, had it not been picking up speed. Three and a half feet left, so option three: Curl up, make himself small, perhaps the monster couldn't see, and it would trip, and Ryuuji would be saved, that seemed like a good plan. But somewhere deep down he knew that was a long shot that he wasn't willing to take, which brought him to the realization that it was less than a foot away, lunging for his face, arms outstretched, when had it gotten this close? He could not remember, but as he swung his own arms up to defend himself, he felt the weight of an object in his hand. The weapon he had made sure to bring, and in his panic completely forgotten about. He stared one last time into the thing's eyes, and felt something small and far inside himself snap, and with it all lines of thought but one carrying a final, perfect solution. The solution he held in his hand, which would solve the problem now mere inches from his face.

He swung with the sort of strength you only hear about in believe-it-or-not shows, the kind people in extreme situations receive from a massive rush of adrenaline, which courses through their veins and lends them extraordinary power. He brought the roller up hard and into the bottom of its jaw, completely shattering it and sending bloody fragments, some containing teeth, some just jagged bone, tearing through its skin and flying across the hall. The pin did not cease its happy work there however, it continued upwards, connecting with a top row of molars and sending them right through the roof of its mouth and straight into its nasal cavity, and the extreme rear few clear into its pharynx. It didn't even flinch. Instead, the force of the blow sent it slightly off kilter and instead of running into him headlong, it hit him sideways and knocked both of them to the ground, where Ryuuji quickly kicked the creature off and stood up. As it began to do the same in the jerky motion it seemed to employ, not even dazed by his attack, he realized that his decision had been the correct one, that this was not an "It", not a "Creature", not anything so worldly. This was a monster, a true Zombie, not simply some poor misguided fool high on bath salts and out roaming the town.

He felt this final realization enter his mind, and them leave as suddenly as it had come, taking the last of his remaining sanity with it. The creature worked the stumps of what had moments before been an intact mandible, and issued a low, eerie moan as it did so. The sound continued as it lurched forward once again, setting its self on a second collision course with Ryuuji, and this time Ryuuji answered in kind. Though not with a moan. He mustered his best war cry and unleashed it, eyes wild, as he leapt forward gripping his rolling pin like a cudgel with both hands, and swung at the creature. He continued screaming, louder and louder, as he swung over and over again, blood spattering every surface of the entryway, all thought draining from his mind as fast as the blood from his face. By the time he regained some control all that was left standing before him was a bloody skeleton with a few ragged organs and muscles hanging from various bones, and generally in places that organs do not belong, as well as a severely dented skull. It gave one final shudder, and then collapsed to the floor in a pool of blood, the size of which was ever growing, and Ryuuji felt himself fall with it, utterly drained from the effort the whole ordeal had required. He felt himself automatically act upon his previous third option, making himself as small as possible, and then began to rock back and forth, head snapping around as he heard the sound of small feet pounding down the apartment's hall way toward him. He clutched his now severely splintered club to his chest, utterly fearful and uncomprehending, like a wild animal backed into a corner, and desperately steeled himself for whatever horrors he may have to face next.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I wrote this over the week that i was gone on holidays, so it is longer and hopefully better than the ones i simply one-shotted and banged off in a matter of hours. Some character development here and a little look at how I believe they would react to stress based upon various breakdowns in the anime, and patterns that i have observed in people (Not murderers and killers of course, nor any personal experience with killing, i'm not a psychopath i promise ;) ). Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 5 - Diamond in the Rough**

Taiga awoke to faint recognition of a noise her subconscious plucked from the wall of night sounds it usually filtered as she slept. Some of those noises were incorporated into her dreams, some catalogued, the vast majority discarded without as much as a second thought. This one was of the second category, stored a long time ago, and one she had only ever heard in an incredibly watered down form on very specific occasions. As her brain ran through its boot-up procedures the sound grew louder, reaching a fever pitch, and as she pulled it free of the background and examined it inside of her mind she began to feel its familiarity more strongly. The more she rolled it around in her sleep-addled brain, the more agitation she felt at her inability to place it, until the realization of its origin hit her like a wave and revived the portion of her psyche that registered alarm and feeling, fully and instantly, just as a physical one would have. The sound was Ryuuji's scream.

She sat bolt upright in bed, straining for something more so that she could be entirely sure that what she had heard was not simply a figment of her imagination, or something caught at the edge of a nightmare and mistaken for reality. But to no avail, the sound cut off abruptly the moment she righted herself, which in a way made her even more nervous than the racket in and of its self. She swung her legs over the edge of the four-poster, deciding that whatever had caused it warranted investigation, and leapt to the floor, landing silent and cat-like in a crouch. Two feet and one hand hit the floor; the second groped the night air beside her bed for the blade that she kept there, and came up empty. This puzzled the still drowsy logical side of her brain; that is until her memory of the previous evening kicked in. She had shattered it mere hours before in her siege of the laundry room.

"Damn it all," she muttered under her breath, she would have to go solo this time. Her instincts screamed protest at the notion of continuing unarmed, but for the moment she had no choice but to fly in their face and proceed. She preferred to keep her room Spartan, and as such there were no real adornments that were not soft and used for sleeping, or heavy and used for holding clothes or other articles. Her best bet would be the kitchen; Ryuuji would surely have left a frying pan or knife in the rack to dry overnight. At times his insistence on cleaning absolutely everything by hand was a pain, but at the moment she felt grateful for his obsessive compulsive tendencies. Not because they achieved a better result than that of a machine, but because they now had the possibility of yielding her a means of self defence.

Rising from her crouch she began padding down the hall, checking her surroundings as se went, though the screaming had stopped there was a dull, methodical thudding issuing from the same direction, and that alone was enough to keep the hair on the back of her neck standing at attention. Every open door was a potential source of danger, and she treated them accordingly, checking each one individually as the cops in the American movies and TV shows she saw always did, leaning slowly around, prepared to strike. She had no idea what she would have done in the event that there had been an intruder hiding in one of the chambers, but the act its self made her feel more at ease. After a few minutes, which seemed like an eternity, (as tends to happen when one is involved in a game of cat and mouse, fearful for one's wellbeing), she arrived at the living room adjacent to the kitchenette and dining room. She strode past the partial island dividing them, not yet looking down the final hall leading to her front door, and glanced to the drying rack. It appeared to have been rummaged through, and recently. Instead of the careful placement Ryuuji usually employed when drying his dishes, everything was either sideways or strewn across the counter in a chaotic manner; there did not seem to be a single piece of kitchenware in its proper place.

"That isn't just odd," she mumbled to herself, "It's completely unlike him." Moving closer, she spotted what she was looking for, a large kitchen knife. "Not quite a sword, but when in Rome…" she trailed off, having turned in the direction of the kitchen's connection to the front entryway and spotted something that immediately caused her blood to run cold. There were flecks of red trailing along the walls that Ryuuji had scrubbed to a pristine white not a week beforehand, growing larger as they progressed towards the door.

"Oh god," Taiga exclaimed in a hushed tone, hand rising to cover her mouth. She started towards the entrance slowly at first, but speeding up quickly, and breaking into a flat run as she rounded the corner. And stopping dead in her tracks once again. Sitting there in the doorway was Ryuuji, covered from head to toe in blood and bits of various organs and clutching a splintered, gory rolling pin to his chest. He was rocking back and forth, seemingly on the verge of tears. In shock at this peculiar sight, she did not immediately notice what was lying next to him until his head snapped around at the sound of her approaching footsteps, drawing her eyes to it and what rested just beyond.

Lying on the ground beside him was a pair of bodies, one atop the other, the bottom one appeared to have been ripped open, its insides pulled out and mauled all down the corridor. The second was less rent open and picked over, but at the same time decidedly more disturbing in nature, it appeared to have been beaten to a shadow of its former self, to the point that it was really just a skeleton lying in a pool of near-liquefied flesh and muscle tissues. The shear force required for such a feat was astonishing by its self, but what was even more amazing was it did not look like something done out of malice.

There were no signs of struggle, no bloody handprints on wall, messages written in bodily fluids by the dying, or even signs of torment. It simply looked as though whoever had assailed the victim had been too blind with fear to realize that their quarry was long dead, or had continued swinging just to make sure. Her eyes shifted back to Ryuuji, and the splintered rolling pin he still clutched. He stared at her with eyes wide, as though not comprehending that it was her who stood before him, but instead seeing some ferocious creature. As the pieces of the puzzle playing out before her slowly began fitting themselves together, she felt the knife slip from her grasp and clatter to the floor. The thudding noise, the rolling pin, the smashed corpses, and Ryuuji sitting there in evident shock. For whatever reason he had killed these people.

She sunk to her knees, overwhelmed by all that she had just taken in, and bit back tears that were threatening to overflow and completely overwhelm her. How could this have happened? The two of them were just beginning their lives together, why had he done something so stupid? Had her classmates been right about him? Was he really a bloodthirsty delinquent? Had he exhibited the symptoms of mental illness, the signs of a sociopath? Had she missed them, or been so taken in that she had just not seen them? As she wallowed on the floor, clad still in only her pyjamas, she heard one word escape his lips.

"Zombies…"

What in the hell was that supposed to mean? Zombies? Was he honestly so delusional that he believed he had been killing zombies, and not living human beings as the cadavers had so obviously been? Without warning his head snapped around yet again, staring down the approaching hall. She heard his breathing quicken, and watched as he gripped his makeshift weapon more tightly, knuckles so far past white they were approaching transparency. What was it that he was so afraid of? People seeing what he had done? Calling the Cops on him?

She raised her eyes, following the path his seemed to be taking down the hall, and was rewarded with the biggest shock she had received so far that evening. Shuffling down the communal corridor; some dragging legs, others with limp arms, and one missing both of its legs as well as half of its torso, dragging its self forward with only clawed hands, came creatures bearing a striking resemblance to the two bodies before her. Pale clammy-looking skin, insides coming out from every which way, and jaws agape, eyes staring but not appearing to perceive anything before them, there was only one word she could call to mind to describe them.

"Oh…" she whispered, succumbing one again to sheer astonishment,"… Zombies…" All doubts about her fiancé stricken from her mind in that moment, she grabbed him by the arm and hauled him through the doorway. With the Zombies advancing at their current pace they would be overwhelmed in less than a minute, there was no time to think, she had to act. She snatched the knife from where it had landed after she had dropped it and hurled herself through the doorway after him, slamming it behind her just as the group from the hall reached it. They were fast. She had always thought Zombies would be slow, shuffling and dragging limbs lackadaisically, and though these did shuffle and drag it appeared that they could build up some serious momentum when they put the tattered remains of their minds to it.

She slammed the bolt on the door home and chained it shut just as they started throwing themselves against it, attempting to break it down. Unlike her laundry-room door which, though solid, she had broken through the previous day with relative ease, this one had been made for maximum security, composed of steel and titanium and held in place by a frame anchored deep in the concrete supports of the building its self. It was artfully done and tasteful as well, unlike the sliding grey doors you see in prisons, both sides were intricately patterned with three dimensional embossments. No expense had been spared on insuring her safety, he original door had been made of painted wood, but in one of his erratic fits of concern for his poor, fragile daughter, he father had had it replaced with this one. This was one of those times that having an incredibly wealthy and concerned parent came in handy. She promised herself that if she got out of this alive she would find and thank him.

She then turned to Ryuuji, who lay where she had thrown him, spread eagle on the floor with her rolling pin still clutched to his chest. She wondered how she had managed to throw him through the door; he had been essentially dead weight. "Must have been the adrenaline," she muttered to herself as she observed him, noticing something even more uncharacteristic of him than the upturned dish-rack. His shoulders were shaking, breaths coming in quick gasps; she went to him and turned him over onto his back. He was crying.

"I didn't have a choice!" He bawled, face contorted by grief as sobs ripped through him, "It wasn't human! It was eating that body! EATING IT!" After that and coherent speech was lost in a wave of agonizing tears, followed by a chorus of hiccups after which he began to wind down.

Taiga had no idea what to do in this sort of situation; how did you comfort a person who was essentially just forced to murder another, even if out of self defence? She had never been good with feelings or comfort in the first place, so all she could think to do was to curl up with him there on the floor and softly stroke his head until he had calmed down enough to speak clearly, while whispering things such as "It's ok," and, "You did the right thing."

Though the latter of the two expressions may have been accurate, she had never before in her life felt that the former could be any further from the truth. After seeing what lay outside her door, and hearing it there still, she had developed the distinct feeling that nothing was ever again going to be truly "Ok."

"Are you alright now?" She asked him after he had calmed down enough for the shaking hitch in his breath to disappear.

"It depends on your definition of 'alright'," he replied, "Did that really just happen? You saw the same thing I did right? Is this a dream?" She pinched his arm, hard, and he leapt to his feet with an indignant yelp. "What the hell was that for?"

"'That' was an experiment," she responded, "You aren't dreaming." His face fell, and took on the appearance of someone who had just been slapped by their best friend. "Now do me," She said, eyes downcast.

"What?" He inquired, confused

"Pinch me or something, I want to make sure I'm not dreaming either."

He obliged, pinching her arm hard enough to bring tears to her eyes. "I'm not dreaming either..." She moaned, and with that she let the aforementioned tears fall, staring downward at her upturned hands. As sobs racked her body she felt Ryuuji's arm slip around her shoulders, comforting her. She didn't know how long she knelt there, sobbing at the ground, but after what seemed like an eternity she began peter out, eyes running dry and racking sobs diminishing to mere shudders, Ryuuji slowly stood up.

"I'm going to go shower," Ryuuji stated, "Are you going to be ok here by yourself for a little while?"

She nodded, still staring at her hands, and heard his footsteps recede towards the bathroom, stop, and then the sound of a sudden rush of water and the clunk that signified her tub switching from faucet to shower. That snapped her out of her revere; she rose from the floor and relocated to her couch, by how stiff she felt doing it she estimated that she must have been hunched there for at least an hour.

Her mind felt clearer now that she'd had a good cry and she began sorting through what she knew to be true in an attempt to make sense of all that had just happened. The noises outside the door had not yet stopped; the Zombies in the hall were still throwing themselves mindlessly against it, which sealed the deal for her. No human would continue hurling themselves unflinchingly against a solid metal door for hours on end, and certainly not that hard; they would have either knocked themselves unconscious or been to hurt to continue after even half an hour.

And what she had seen in the hallway had definitely not been human. They hadn't even looked diseased; they seemed so far past any form of ailment she had ever seen that they could only be described as corpse-like, with their lifeless, staring eyes and multitudinous lacerations. The term 'Zombie' was truly the best descriptor one could come up with, though whether they were Zombies in a classical sense; Un-dead creatures from the nether world, or some scientific anomaly, could not yet be determined she felt sure that they were not something to be taken lightly.

With that sorted, at least for the time being, she looked beyond her immediate situation and broadened her scope to include society and the town in which they were living. If all the movies, books and media about Zombie apocalypses could be believed then this would not be an isolated event. Assuming that whatever was causing this whole fiasco was communicable, then within a matter of hours there would only be pockets of survivors left. If that was not already the case. Shortly after which society, social order, and any other institutions currently present would all collapse, leaving the rag-tag groups of survivors completely alone and defenceless against the ever growing hoards of monsters roaming the Earth.

She rose from her seat and moved to the French doors on the far wall of her living room, opening them to reveal the concrete balcony that jutted a couple of feet straight out from the outside wall of her building, and over the sidewalk of the street in front of it. She stepped onto it and strode forward, taking a moment to steel herself, and looked to the street below. They were definitely going to need to find some weapons. Fast. As far as she could see in either direction there were the same things they had so narrowly escaped in the hallway just milling aimlessly around. There had to be hundreds, if not thousands, in the square kilometre of area around her apartment alone.

She looked to her left, and her eyes alighted on the house in which Ryuuji had grown up with his mother. Oh god, Ya-Chan; in their terror they had completely forgotten about her, at this time of day she would most likely be at home and asleep in her room. Not even the din that the street roaming Zombies were making would be able to rouse her from her drunken sleep for at least another several hours.

Wait, she would be sleeping! That meant she would be making next to no noise, and would be in a dark home behind locked doors; since she lived alone now the likelihood that there was somebody else inside that had been infected was next to none. The only way that she would be in any immediate danger would be if she had brought a client home from work. She had done this on an odd couple of occasions when she had been to drunk to even walk herself home, but Ryuuji had always been there to shoo them away, assuring them that he would care for her appropriately and that he was perfectly capable ensuring her safety. He was not there now, but the instances had been so incredibly infrequent that she saw no reason for concern.

There would be no way the Zombies would be able to tell that she was there, unless they had incredible, altered senses of smell. That would certainly explain why the ones in the hallway had still not given up their assault of her apartment, but she would just have to hope for now that they didn't. She sprinted from the balcony in the direction of her bathroom to report her findings to Ryuuji, and hopefully come up with a plan to rescue his mother.

Part way there another thought stopped her dead for a third time that night. Yasuko was not the only one she had to worry about. Minorin, Kitamura, even that stupid Chihuahua would be caught up in this just the same as they had been. That was almost enough to push her over the edge and into another fit of tears, but she managed to hold on for the moment. They would simply have to come up with a plan that incorporated then into their rescue effort; all of her friends were incredibly resourceful, they would find a way to survive for a few more hours without her. Comforted, she continued on her way, even faster this time, as though trying to outrun all the horrors that now lay around her, hiding in the shadowy cracks that spider-webbed the rapidly degrading remains of her world.

She reached the bathroom and burst in without thinking to knock, if Ryuuji had been showering he wasn't now, the water was no longer running and she didn't see anything through the crack under the door signifying that he still was. As she opened it she loudly proclaimed, "Ryuuji, I'm coming…" she had meant to say 'I'm coming in,' but the sight that greeted her caused the remainder of the sentence to swell, and catch in her throat.

Before her, naked as the day he was born, stood her fiancé. In his surprise at her sudden entrance he had turned to face her, and a certain something between his legs swung around with him, coming almost to level with her chin. 'Right,' she thought, 'His dick, boys have those.' Ryuuji was staring down at her, blushing furiously, they were not more than a foot and a half apart even though Taiga's bathroom was quite spacious. The reason for this was probably the fact that the towel hanger was located oh-so-inconveniently beside the door, she had never before understood the reason for its placement, but she now theorized that it was just to create situations like these.

She began to look him up and down; the bakery work really had done wonders for his physique. His arms, which before had been wiry and of a slightly above average size, could now be safely described as corded with muscle, and very developed, all of their strapping portions looked taut and primed without his even having to flex them. She moved her flitting gaze to his torso, where she saw the now obvious benefits of his having hauled all of those heavy bags of ingredients, pectoral muscles jutted from his chest as though hewn from stone, angular and defined, and further down she observed full six pack abs, each one perfectly shaped, like a double row of the succulent buns he sometimes brought her home from work. She felt a little bit of drool run down the corner of her mouth at the thought of eating him just like those buns, 'I wonder if he would taste as delicious…' she contemplated, the sight of him placing her in the midst of an ever growing haze. 'Where the hell did that come from?' the logical part of her brain cried out, shocked, but it was quickly silenced by the next destination of her now greedily wandering eyes.

They alighted on the toned musculature of his legs, cut calves running into thighs developed by much squatting and lifting of flour, sugar, and other things sacked by the hundreds of pounds. Her brain was beginning to feel numb, and she felt a small fire building in her lower abdomen, slowly boiling her insides into an incoherent soup of pure desire. Her visual path brought her back up the genitals which still hung essentially in her face, Ryuuji hadn't yet moved, frozen in place by either surprise or fear, she couldn't (or at the moment didn't care to try and) tell which. She was now looking at them in a light very different from that of moments ago when they had swung to greet her entrance, she felt her head cloud further with a fog of disbelief and something else which she could not yet place. The feeling was not entirely new to her, she had gotten it before when looking at pictures of scantily clad men with Minorin, or at times when she'd had rather lewd dreams, but never this strong or immediate.

He was close enough that if she wanted to, she could simply reach out and grab them, caress him up and down… was it bigger than average? It certainly seemed to be growing, slowly standing to attention in front of her until it came to rest, pointed sharply upwards in the direction of her mouth. She moved her head sideways to get a better look at it, yes it was certainly large, and she wondered how it would feel… Suddenly he jumped, practically falling over himself in his attempts to back pedal; her movement must have broken his trance, but his only served to fuel her, the way it bobbed hypnotically up and down as he moved seemed to call her ever closer. She followed him, a damp spot forming between her legs as a direct result of the fire now raging just above it.

He continued backward until he hit the far wall where she pinned him, head sliding still farther into the haze in which she found herself nearly engulfed. "Taiga! What are you doing?" He cried as she drew ever closer, their bodies scarcely inches apart.

"Well we're engaged aren't we…?" She trailed in a breathy voice, she pressed a palm against the cool, tiled wall beside him, feeling deliciously reckless. "Wouldn't it be alright for me to have just a little feel?" Face hot as an iron she placed her free hand on his chest, trailing fingers slowly downwards. "I want to see what. It's. Like." She hoped the staccato punctuation made the statement sound as seductive as she intended, by this point her need was almost overflowing. Her spot had grown to a blotch; she wasn't sure how much longer she could contain herself.

"Would that really be appropriate, considering what just happened?"

She looked up at his face at that point, noting the way his back was arched in obvious discomfort, his facial expression screaming of apprehension, looking incredibly off put despite the blush evident in his cheeks. He looked her in the eyes and asked, concern coating his words, "Taiga, what's gotten into you? Are you sure you're alright? This isn't at all like you."

That snapped her back to reality, and she immediately recalled the reason she had burst in with such urgency. "Oh god," she said, the haze, which his gaze had pushed into her periphery, now lifting completely, she backed up blushing furiously now, "Sorry, I guess I kind of… lost it." With a feeble attempt at an apology aside the gravity of the situation outside of her bathroom caused it to bubble to the forefront of her mind and burst suddenly outward in a rush of pent up fear and apprehension.

"We have to save the others!" She blurted, giving rise to a confused look on Ryuuji's face which gradually disappeared as she rehashed, in a much briefer fashion than that in which they had come to her, her realizations and her theories about his mother, their friends, and society as a whole. He took a moment to absorb all that she had told him, and then spoke softly.

"I was actually thinking the same thing, about society that is, but I agree with you. If we are going to get through this, and it goes anything like what is stereotypically supposed to happen in apocalypse events, we are definitely going to need a solid group of able bodied people whom we can trust." He paused and then asked tentatively, "Could we continue this one I'm dressed?"

"Oh god!" She exclaimed again, "Yes! Sorry! I'm just, I mean I was… I'll just go…" And turned on her heel and left him standing there, smiling to himself a little.

"I didn't think she was that attracted to me. At least not in that way. I may have to take her up on that offer of a feel up sometime." He then began the process of drying off, and getting ready for the hell he was about to face. Taiga was doing the same in the other room; preparing herself for all that unpleasant things she was certain she would have to do before this was over.


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: Sorry this new update took so long guys and girls! The first few months of school have been crazy and I've had scarcely a moment to myself, but I finally finished this one as it was a snow day today. I have edited it, so hopefully there aren't too many errors and incoherencies, but if so, I apologize, it's late and I wanted to get this out as soon as possible. So again feel free to rate, review, and tell me what you think so far, where you think the story should go, etc... Until then please enjoy one of the longer chapters in this story thus far!**_

As they sat in Taiga's living room planning their "Daring-Rescue Super Plan Mark 1", as she had so affectionately dubbed it, Ryuuji felt himself blushing at the still vivid memory of his close encounter with her in the bathroom. The way she had moved towards him had seemed almost fluid, as though she had been compelled by some undefined force of nature, her movements dictated by a higher power. Though that fact was but a foot note in the whole fiasco, especially when compared to what had really entranced him, the real reason he had not been able to move when Taiga had advanced upon him. Not because he had been pinned up against a wall, backed into a corner, or paralyzed by some overwhelming emotion. What had held him was the confounding combination of her gaze, the smile painted starkly across her face, and that she had said scarcely anything as she advanced.

The way she had looked was so uncharacteristic of her that it had, in fact, reminded him of the way Kawashima had that time the two of them found themselves alone in his apartment, just before Taiga had walked in. It had been beseeching, full of want and of need, but behind the erotic façade had been the innocence of a child desperately wanting a playmate, someone to whom they could relate and open themselves. Ryuuji had developed a long-running theory that Kawashima was so used to marketing herself to people that her sexy super-model persona had grown to more than just a business tool. He believed that she had come to rely upon it so much that it had simply become a way of life for her; pout, get what you wanted, cry, people would support you, look sexy, people want you. In that moment, just before they had heard the lock turn, he had known somewhere deep inside that for all of Kawashima's professional attitude, charm, and good looks she really just needed to be wanted. More than that; all she wanted in the world was to be truly needed by another person, a bid for a bond hidden behind a lonely mask of the kind of stuff that makes women green with envy and men drool.

Taiga's manner had been similar, she also appeared to have desired a bond, but from the fire in her eyes, the way her breath had come quick and ragged, and the way she slunk toward him, he felt as though she had desired one of a completely different variety. And that thought was severely inhibiting his ability to reason now.

The plan so far had come to consist of three phases:

Phase I) Head over to his house to extract Yasuko, obtaining whatever they could find by way of weapons en route. They would employ Taiga's usual means of entry and jump from her bedroom window to his balcony, the doors of which were kept unlocked during the day to allow her passage, and proceed to face whatever they found within. They had deemed the street in front of the apartment impassable, it was still thick with the Newly-Dead, and even if they had wanted to risk it the persistent pounding on the door had done nothing but intensify since they had slammed it shut, (Which seemed like ages ago by that point).

Phase II) Make their way over fences and through yards to find Kitamura, Kawashima, and Minori. The more they avoided the main streets the better, they would encounter less resistance, danger, and move more quickly overall. There was always the chance that there would be stragglers loitering along their path, but that would have to be chalked up to collateral damage, they could not afford to exercise either mercy or curiosity at present. They would first check Minori's usual haunts and jobs, as well as her home, which were all the closest. They would then make a Bee-line for Kitamura's place, and from there locate check Kawashima's flat and the modelling agency under which she was employed. Once as many of them as could be located had been gathered they would move to phase three, which was relatively simplistic.

Phase III) Survive and determine the cause of, and possible remedies for, whatever the hell had gone wrong with the world.

"Alright" Taiga exclaimed, they had gone over the plan upwards of ten times, hashing out every little detail, making sure every nuance was just so. "Go grab whatever you think you'll need, but don't pack too heavily. Remember, we have to be able to run and hop fences with whatever we carry, and whatever you bring you WILL carry, we are not hauling a wagon of crap down the sidewalk, and we don`t have a car."

"Yes Sergeant!" Ryuuji replied, voice dripping with well-meant sarcasm. He knew that they were in a dire situation and getting too uptight about it would simply cause infighting and a whole unwanted, and very much unneeded, slough of problems. Hopefully his little joke would do the trick.

"Damn straight!"

Evidently it had the desired effect.

"And you best not forget it! Now drop your ass and give me 20!"

He hurriedly dropped to the ground and proceeded to perform the ordered punishment.

"You call those push-ups!?" She cried after the first few, laughter now evident in her tone, and jumped promptly onto his back, "Now start over you wuss, and this time I want 30!"

He happily obliged, unbeknownst to her his training at the Bakery had consisted of doing push-ups with heavy sacks of four on his back, as well as a strict regimen of squats, sit-ups, and other strenuous activities done with items of the trade that the overseer of his induction into the art increased in weight over time. When he had once dared question his master's workout routine, he had received, "You have to be able to move every piece of this bakery," as a reply. "We do things by hand around here, ain't none of those fancy machines to do the liftin', mixin' and bakin'. Ruins the taste of the confections. We make everything here with blood, sweat, and the tears of our hearts." The old baker he had apprenticed under had been strict, unwavering, and proven an invaluable friend and mentor to Ryuuji over the past handful years, consoling him in Taiga's absence, and encouraging him when he felt hopeless. He was sort of the Japanese equivalent of a Red-Neck, mixed with a Sage and a Poet. He talked like a hillbilly with the vocabulary of an Oxford grad.

It took him next to no time to complete his task, even with the extra hundred or so pounds on his back. Taiga certainly didn't look it, but she was all wiry muscle, and as a result was far heavier than she appeared; which, he mused, was probably the reason she had such a hard time staying afloat when the two of them went to the pool. _Which we won't be doing anymore, _he chided himself, _if this is at all as bad as it looks there won't be anybody left to run a pool, much less swim in one._ He kept his face neutral in spite of the morbid notion; it would do him no good to have Taiga depressed again, and with that in mind he sprang suddenly to his feet, launching her head over heels onto the couch.

"Time to go sergeant!" He exclaimed.

She rolled from the couch, dropping to all fours as though preparing to pounce and breathed, "Not just yet…" The small girl abruptly uncoiled like a spring, launching herself through five feet of empty air and at him. He deflected her at the last second, having taken that long to discern her intent and react, and sent her tumbling down the hallway.

"You've got ten minutes," He called after her, "Get your shit and get ready to move!"

"Bastard!" She responded from somewhere out of sight; not angrily, but serious none the less.

_Aaaaand verbal abuse as a first resort yet again, _he sighed internally, _good to know we're back in the dog house._ He began preparing things he knew they would immediately need. A pair of knives each, some flatware, plastic containers, water bottles, dry rations and preserves, basic cooking supplies, lighters, the list went on. He managed to keep it to a maximum of half a backpack a piece, leaving the remainder for personal effects and toiletries. Which was when Taiga came staggering down the hall under a load of clothing, bedding, and other more obscure items that could easily be described as twice his own size.

"Taiga, what the hell? You are the one who said to pack light!"

"This is light, stupid dog, how could I expect you to understand the complexities of your master's mind? After all, you are just an ignorant pup in comparison to my wise and all-knowing self. Plus, I'm not carrying this, you are."

"Fat chance of that," he spat back, and began helping her pick items from the pile. In the end he managed to haggle her down to the items he had already arranged in her pack, plus enough personal items to nearly split its seams. He pared his own down to a comfortable weight, having gone to the bedroom and found his clothing and such once he finished talking down his stubborn fiancé, and hefted it to his shoulder.

They made their way to the bedroom window, and took one last moment to look around the room they had only just begun to share. _It almost seems symbolic of our lives, _he thought, _it feels like every time we are set to start our lives together, something goes wrong. _It had all begun way back when the two of them had first met, bumping into each other by chance in the school hall, him knocking her over. From there it had only escalated: her father, the ski trip, her running away for a year, and now cumulating in this. The sad cap on a long pipeline of disappointment and disaster.

Now that he thought about it, most everything up till now had been either her fault, or had something to do with her. He could not blame this most recent occurrence on her, not by a long shot; to do so would be both Ludacris and unjust. But nonetheless he felt perturbed, if the sting of calamities surrounding his apparently misfortune prone love were to repeat past patterns then there was no way the two of them were going to get out in one piece.

He would simply have to focus on the good times they had shared, which he realized far outweighed the bad, and pray that those events were the ones that recurred in the future. _Pray, _he thought, _never felt the need to do that before. But in light of recent events, I'm suddenly feeling very religious. If there is a god out there I want him or her on our side; because said deity knows we're going to need it._

He broke from his revere in time to see Taiga moving toward the window, a lone tear rolling slowly down her cheek. He moved with her, embracing her from behind as they reached, in tandem, for the latch to open their haven, possibly the last on earth, to the roiling hell that currently composed the outside world. He, having longer arms and a better reach, grasped it first and turned it, sliding the window along its rails.

It glided smoothly along; flying in the face of all that it portrayed in a small, sweet act of rebellion. He chose to embrace it. He next slid the screen aside, and stepped up and onto the sill, poised to leap across the narrow gap to his balcony, and felt a gentle tug on his pant leg.

"Ryuuji, be careful…"

"Don't worry, I will be. And you too, try to land as softly as you can, we don't want to attract any unneeded attention."

"Right."

With that said he turned and leapt into open air, reveling for a moment in the feeling of it caressing him and landed, catlike, on the porch, turning just in time to catch the beautiful girl, _no,_ he corrected himself, _woman, _sailing after him.

Then he noticed the ambient smell. The air around them was heavy with the stink of burning, almost but not quite masking the acrid reek of blood. The smell of denaturing protein, hemoglobin, red blood cells bursting as they hit the jagged edges of wounds, activating fibrinogen, which is converted to fibrin, creating a sticky net of blood cells and microfibers attempting to clot and close the gaping wounds rent in their organism by… He shook his head, it had been years since he had taken a course in Biology, but he guessed that some things just never seem to leave you. They lie in wait in the furthest recesses of your brain, poised to spring out at you when you least expect it. A cascade of firing neurons, specific electrical impulses firing specific cells in an all-or-none response. Creating a dancing electrical pathway, and inciting a reaction, all in fractions of a second, and… He again ground to a screeching halt. He had always been intelligent, able to recall things at the drop of a hat, and had started, years before, to do so in response to an uncertain situation, it was a coping mechanism he had come to use so often that it had simply become reflexive.

Taiga was standing perfectly still, her face upturned, and he noticed as he came back to reality that his grip on her arms was probably a lot tighter than it should have been. He released her as though she were a hot coal he has plucked, barehanded, from the heart of a fire, wheeling around and apologizing simultaneously. If she was hurt, she didn't show it.

"Ryuuji, are you alright?"

"Yea, fine," He replied, "Just lost myself for a second there." And having said that strode forward toward the sliding glass doors that he could only pray his mother had left unlocked in another early morning fit of drunken forgetfulness. She worked so hard, and often so late into the night as a hostess, that she would come home most nights and forget to lock even the front door as she fell into bed to sleep off the absurd amount of alcohol in her system.

He tried them and, for once to his relief, found that this had indeed been the case. The door slid noiselessly backward on its track, and came to rest with a soft thump against the rubber stopper at the far end; it appeared that all of his lectures on the importance of constant house maintenance had made some impact on his mother after all, it seemed recently oiled. Now he could only hope she had at least remembered to shut the front door.

He moved through the familiar dining/living area to her room, the doors of which were slightly ajar, _that's a good sign_, he forced in an only partially successful attempt to comfort himself. He inched them slowly open, so as not to wake and startle her if she was sleeping on the inside. He had thrown the doors open and scared her from her rest only once as a child, and had immediately discovered why doing so was hazardous to anyone's health. The moment the door had hit the wall and the first peal of sound was issued, his mother, normally able to sleep through a bombing raid, had been up like a shot, poised with a knife in her hand, inches from his own chest. She had immediately released it and sunk to the floor crying, but the damage had been done, and to the day he was still cautious about disturbing her when he did not know for certain that she was at least semi-conscious. He realized much later that what had occurred was likely a reflex from a much older time, when she had still been living with his gang-lord father, and the going had been far tougher than she had ever allowed him to see.

More and more light spilled into the room as the door crept backwards, revealing the edge of a futon; a mangled mess of blankets and covers that grew with painful sloth, every inch eating away his hope like acid. He began sliding it faster, panic bubbling in his chest. The bed was half lit, but still no figure appeared on it. The bubbling was replaced by a roiling sea of terror as he flung the door the rest of the way, only to find the last half of the divan the same as the first, all blankets and no bodies.

He didn't know whether to feel elated for the fact that he had not found a desiccated corpse, or worse yet one of the Things from outside, or scream into her absence, giving voice to his terror and conveying it to the world. Caught between two equally undesirable actions, he settled for simply sitting down, and raising a hand to his mouth to supress the mournful sounds trying to escape him. He had been sure she would be here, Yasuko came home late, that was true, but never so late as to have been caught up in whatever the hell had been going on since the early morning. Or had it been the middle of the night? His thoughts were becoming more jumbled by the second, if he didn't collect them soon he would be unable to go on. And then Taiga would have to face the world alone.

_Taiga!_ The thought woke him from the despair he was sinking into. He couldn't leave her alone, she was what he lived for, and now what he would have to continue living for, as she was apparently all he had left. His mother was gone, that was a fact he would simply have to accept, he would never locate her in the ocean of reanimated corpses roaming Japan, there were simply too many.

That thought sent a memory flashing suddenly into his mind:

_He was much younger; probably ten or twelve, and he had awoken to find a disturbing lack of his mother's presence in the usual places she liked to pass out drunk. Even back then such a routine as this had been going on so far back into his memory that he could not recall beginning, it was a fact: mom came home, passed out, mom woke up, mom went out, mom came home… the cycle repeated. However that particular morning was missing a key piece, the beautiful, predictable, comfortable paradigm broken. He had looked all over the house, finding nothing, asked the neighbors, come up with squat, and been left with a big fat goose egg after calling the emergency number she always left for him when she was at "Work"._

_He had finally sat down in the living room, left with nothing else to do but cry, and wait for the police to show up and take him away as she had always told him they would if he wasn't impeccably good, diligent, and well behaved. He was mulling over what prison life would be like, and despairing over the thought of how dirty everything would be, (He had been a clean freak, even back then), when he heard a small noise issuing form the direction of the old bathroom, and noticed the door slightly ajar. He had checked the whole house over, that bathroom included, but he had been in such a state of panic by the time he had reached it that he had simply whirled through, not bothering to give it a thorough check. After all, why the hell would she be in there?_

_But there it was again, the small noise permeating from that direction, wafting into his ears and caressing them, and tugging at the strings at the very back of his mind. Was it the door creaking in a breeze? No, he had all of the windows closed, it sounded almost like snoring. …SNORING! He ran into the bathroom as fast as he could, not even bothering to push it open, but instead barreling straight through. He looked all around, trying over and over to locate the source, failing every time. He was just about to give up and sulk back to the living room to continue contemplation of his imminent jail sentence when the sound came again. He whipped his head around, the tub! How had he neglected to look in the tub! It was old, and he kept a wooden cover on it to keep the unwanted dust out, as they rarely used it, opting instead for the only other bathroom in the place, which had a shower. He threw the cover off and lo and behold, curled into a little ball of night dress smeared mascara at the bottom was his mother. _

"_No, I can't take them all, there are just too many… Too many…" She mumbled in her sleep._

"_What!" He cried out in fury, "What is important enough to justify breaking with routine, scaring your son half to death, and falling asleep in a covered flippin' tub, WITH THE COVER STILL ON!?"_

"_Too many… Too many… Doughnuts…" She finished, a smile melting across her lips. He slammed his head into the wall behind the tub at speed, hard enough to wake his sleeping mother with a jerk, who promptly yawned, looked up at him, and inquired, "Ryu-Chan, what are you doing in here? And why am I in a tub?"_

He snapped back to reality, the chance was slim, but maybe if he was ridiculously, improbably lucky, history would repeat itself. Without so much as a word of explanation to Taiga, who had standing behind him the whole time, looking at the little patch of wall he had repaired with the piece of pink love letter from long ago. He recalled that after that horrible experience he had locked the door to the old bathroom and hidden the key in his room. It had not been opened since; for fear that the same thing would happen again, but he had not taken the key with him when he had move his things over to Taiga's, perhaps his mother had reopened it in his absence.

He rounded a corner, slipping on well-polished hardwood flooring, and came to a halt in front of it. He slowly reached for the handle, fearing the disappointment he would feel when he found it to be locked, as it almost certainly was, but as his hand found it the knob turned with shocking ease, completing a full half circle and swinging inwards with the door it was attached to. So she was here!

He flung the door the rest of the way open, throwing caution to the wind with high spirits and higher hopes, only to find a film of dust covering the interior, undisturbed. He ran to the tub, and lifted the heavy wooden lid off, only to find that it had done its job all too well, there was nothing inside. He strode out the door and back to the living room in a daze; he had been so sure, so full of hope and belief when he turned the handle, was his solution not good enough? Was his piecing together of the mangled puzzle presented to him, sifting through each fragment of the evidence, and coming up with the only solution seemingly plausible in such a bizarre satiation not good enough? Was he not good enough? He stopped, a hand on the wooden trim surrounding the portal between the dining area and the kitchen, when he noticed light spilling in through the front door. It was ajar.

He strode up to it, angered at his stupid mother's forgetfulness and carelessness, hearing now a soft crying from behind him. Taiga. Yasuko had been as much of a mother to her as she had to him. The door slammed shut, his clenched hand following close behind its arc, and a single piece of paper fluttered to the ground. It was one of the shitty sticky notes his mother had always bought that would never stay stuck to anything for very long. It was probably just a grocery list, but he held it to his face and began to read anyway:

_Dear Ryuuji and Taiga;_

_You remember that boyfriend I told you about a while back? The nice man I met at work that I said I wanted to get to know a little better? Well when the poop hit the fan today around 11:30pm; he came over hereto get me. And by poop I mean whatever the heck those things outside are. We took his jeep and are headed up to his house up the hill; it is relatively secluded there and we will be staying there for a while, and will be waiting for the two of you to meet with us. _

His heart jumped with elation, that sort of thing was just like his mother, leaving with just a note to tell you where she had gone, toning her language down the level of a grade-schooler around him so as to keep his little ears safe, even though he was a grown man. He flipped the note to its back side.

_You have one week from today to get up here, after that we are going to have to assume the worst and leave without you. I hope that this note finds you well and desperately hope you make it; I love you two to pieces and miss you more every second you take._

_Love you-_

_ Yasuko_

The rear half of the message was dotted with the stain of a single tear, and looked hastily scrawled, however for his mother to sign a note "Yasuko" instead of her usual "Ya-Chan" or "Mom", things must have been serious. He was so relieved he nearly burst into tears for the umpteenth time that night, but opted instead to rush into the living room, shove the note into his Fiancé's hands and tell her to read.

She protested at first, eyes still puffy from crying, tears running in rivulets down both cheeks, but she eventually did as he asked. Her jaw dropped as she began, and proceeded further downward with every sentence she read until she finally finished and launched herself upwards shouting for joy and pounced on him, enveloping him in a crushingly emotional hug.

"She's alive! Oh thank god, I knew it! I knew she couldn't be dead!"

Ryuuji overcame his surprise at her sudden display after a second and hugged her back, just as fiercely, if not more so. He himself wanted to jump in the nearest vehicle with gas and drive to her, but he knew that was unrealistic, the Things were still crowding the streets, and they still had to find their friends. They could easily round all of them up and reach the hilltop within a week, he knew for a fact that Kitamura had gotten his licence, so as long as they could find him they would at least have somebody to drive them around. He had a sneaking suspicion that Minorin had hers as well, or at the very least a vehicle. There was no other way she could feasibly navigate the city and go between her countless odd jobs with the speed she did otherwise.

Regardless of what lay ahead they now had at least one thing, hope. And that was all they would need to keep them going. The hope that they were not the only ones left. The hope that there were others, perhaps whole groups of people, just out there waiting to coagulate, cohere, and reform into a new society. To restore normal social order. Perhaps in time to fix the world. But that all came later, at the moment all that mattered was putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward, and ever onward towards the source of their hope, their wish, and their desire.

Like the sages of many an ancient legend, chasing after a star, compelled by an omen that they had received in one form or another, simply because they had faith, and they clung to it like a drowning man clings to a piece of wood adrift at sea.

"You know we can't stay here right? We have to keep going and find everybody else, stick to the plan."

"I know, but I still worry about her you know, out there all alone."

"We'll find her before the week's up Taiga, I promise you that." He turned to the sliding doors again, just in time to see the sun peek its sleepy head from behind the adjacent mountains, low on the horizon, allowing the first few locks of its golden hair to spill over and caress the town below. He felt taiga move beside him, drawing breath sharply inward at the sight. It was beautiful, sharply contrasting the situation that seemed to have taken a choking grip on their world, and it was as that big ball of cheery radiation began its sleepy ascent of the morning sky that they witnessed the first anomaly of many in the brave new world into which they found themselves entering. The first rays began to fall on the streets, and as they did the Things appeared to grow increasingly restless, until at last a single beam found its way through a far off pair of mountain peaks and landed squarely on one of them. It broke out into a fit of startled shrieks and other guttural noises that seemed to spread outward in a wave, passing from one creature to another like fire in a dead forest.

Slowly at first, but with speed increasing over a very short time frame they began moving like a rolling sea, heads bobbing, bodies swaying, and the crowd of them began to thin. As more and more of them seemed to disappear Ryuuji's field of view became less and less restricted, and he could see them moving indoors in droves. Whatever had done this to them, and whatever they were, sun worshipers were not among their ranks.

The pair watched as the last of the stragglers trickled off and left nearly empty streets in their wake. Nearly empty consisting of a few scattered corpses, (much trampled and mauled), burning cars and refuse, and other un-pleasantries, but utterly navigable none the less.

"Do you know what this means?" Ryuuji asked, awed, turning his head to the woman beside him as he did so. He had never had much time to appreciate it in their busy, pre-apocalyptic lives, (He had come to the conclusion that with how widespread this seemed, apocalypse was a fairly safe label), but when the sun hit Taiga just so, when she was in just the right mood, she almost seemed to glow with fierce inner radiance, like a back-lit diamond, and at the same time she appeared to burn with all the ferocity of the animal after which she was named.

"I suppose this means we travel during the day."


End file.
